lower taxes versus more of a social safety net. and every time they come close to an agreement, it falls apart because they have a fundamentally different idea on the issues. they have this divide in america, randy. >> so what happens next? how likely is it that we'll go over the fiscal cliff? i'm curious about the mood in washington right now. >> there is an increase in optimism because of the mood out of that meeting today. but i still would say the people who are -- placing bets in this town still expect that the nation will go over the fiscal cliff. so still a little bit more hope than what we woke up this morning, but no one is counting on being off on new year's eve. >> randy. >> jessica, thank you, more now on the raw politics, good to see you both. cornell, let me start with you here, the president said he wanted to see a straight up or down vote. as we mentioned that could happen in the senate. we could lose the up or down vote. >> you are going to see something come out of the senate. you have to pay attention to the tone